Dropping the Atomic Bomb

Additionally, you are to read War in Pacific. It is .pdf file I've shared with you in your WWII file folder. After reading the three pages and studying the sources, answer the following questions and post them to your blog.

1. What factors have affected viewpoints on Truman's decision?
There are two main viewpoints on Truman's decision: the bombing was not justified, and the bombing was completely justified.
Those who believe that the bombing was not justified cite the thousands of Japanese deaths that occurred - not only from the bombs themselves, but also from the effects of radiation that occurred after the fact. They think that the war was already won; the bomb was not necessary for success. They also reason that the army was simply looking to test out its new "toy" and to scare the USSR.
Those who believe that the bomb was completely justified cite the fact that the bomb saved millions of U.S. lives, since a land invasion would have been extremely bloody. They also feel that Truman simply dropped the bomb to save U.S. lives - other allegations of ulterior motives are false.

2. Do you think he made the right decision? Give your reasons.
I believe that Truman made the wrong decision. Yes, the bomb may have saved millions of U.S. lives, but it murdered thousands of Japanese civilians in the process. One cannot condone the saving of lives that came from the deaths of others; it cancels itself out. Also, the bombing set a precedent. Because it worked so effectively, bombs quickly became the go-to solution in military situations. After WWII, bombs were major military tools - the consequences are overlooked, because the end result is so final and immediate.

War In the Pacific

1. What was the importance of the Battle of Midway?
The Battle of Midway had horrible results for the Japanese - they lost 250 planes and four aircraft carriers, not to mention a cruiser though. Many saw the Battle of Midway was "revenge for Pearl Harbor". The real importance of the Battle of Midway, though, is that it allowed the Allies to begin taking over one island after another; each island brought them a little closer to Japan.

2. What strategy did the United States adopt in fighting Japan?
In fighting Japan, the Allies went on the offensive. They would not sit around and wait for the Japanese to attack; they decided to be completely forthright.

3. Why did the Japanese fight so hard on Iwo Jima?
The Japanese were aware that Iwo Jima would be incredibly useful to the U.S., because they could use it to send off heavily armed bomber planes from. The Japanese also knew that if the Allies took Iwo Jima, Okinawa would be the only thing left to stop them from invading Japan.

4. Why did the Allies believe Okinawa was a foretaste of an invasion of Japan?
The Allies predicted that an invasion of Japan would cost millions and millions of British and American lives. So many casualties took place simply in trying to take Okinawa that it seemed to foreshadow what it would be like during the invasion of Japan.

5. What was the Manhattan Project?
The Manhattan Project was the code name for the U.S. program to design an atomic bomb. Over 600,000 people were involved, and yet it was kept highly secret.

6. Ultimately, why did President Truman decide to drop atomic bombs on Japan?
Truman had, according to himself, never had any doubts about using the bomb. He saw no other way to end the war against Japan; he did not want to waste millions of American lives in trying to invade the country by force. He had always seen the bomb as a "miltary weapon", and military weapons get used when necessary.

War for Europe & North Africa - Part II

6. What was D-Day?
D-Day was the first day of the Allies' invasion of Normandy. On D-Day, hundreds of American troops parachuted into German lines; they were joined hours later, in the early morning, by thousands of soldiers who had gotten there by naval transport.

7. What happened at the Battle of the Bulge?
The Battle of the Bulge occurred on December 16, 1944. German tanks broke through the American lines. The tanks pushed miles into the American lines, causing the troops to bulge back - this is where the name of the battle came from. The Germans captured 120 Americans early on in the battle; these soldiers were shot to death in an open field after being taken. The Battle of the Bulge went on for a month; though the Germans had lost little ground, they had lost massive amounts of men and supplies. After this battle, the war took a decidedly downward turn for Germany.

8. What did Allied troops find in Germany?
When the troops pushed through into Germany, they came upon the proof of the Holocaust. They soon stumbled upon the Nazi death camps - they found millions of starving people, emaciated beyond belief, as well as inconcievable amounts of dead bodies, and the methods that were used to kill them - gas chambers, crematoria, and other murderous devices too horrible to imagine.

9. What happened to Hitler? What happened to F.D. Roosevelt? Who became U.S. President?
Hitler shot himself in a bunker on April 30, 1945, the day after marrying Eva Braun. His body, as well as his wife's, was burned in the streets. FDR suffered a stroke on April 12; he did not live to see the official end of the war. His Vice-President, Harry S. Truman, became president.

War for Europe & North Africa

1. To what did Roosevelt and Churchill agree early in the war?

Early on in the war, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to accept only unconditional surrender from the Axis powers; all terms that the Allies set forth had to be met before surrender would be accepted.

2. Why was winning the Battle of the Atlantic so crucial to the fortunes of the Allies?

The Atlantic provided the main route for getting supplies from the U.S. to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. had German u-boats continued to gun down cargo ships, Great Britain would quickly have starved to death, and the Axis powers would easily have won the war.

3. Why was the Battle of Stalingrad so important?

First, it marked a major victory for the USSR and for the Allies as a whole; the Allies came out firmly on top, and German forces had been severely weakened. Also, from Stalingrad, the Soviet army began to shift westwards into Germany.

4. What happened in the war in North Africa?

About 107,000 American troops landed in Oran, Casablanca, and Algiers. They pushed the German troops eastwards, until finally, after months of heavy combat, the German troops surrendered in May 1943.

5. What happened after the Allies invaded Italy?

Soon after the Allies invaded Italy, they captured Sicily. The Italian government, horrified by this turn of events, forced Mussolini to resign. He was quickly arrested and stripped of all power. The Allies thought they had won, but their battles were not over; Hitler launched attacks within Italy to avoid battles on German soil. One battle, near Rome, ended with tens of thousands of casualties to each side. Italy was not freed until 1945.

Mobilizing for WWII

Read Chapter 25-1: Mobilizing for War and note how each of the following contributed to that effort.

1. Selective Service System
Although 5 million Americans willingly volunteered to join up, it was simply not enough. The SSS enlarged the draft, which turned up 10 million more men to fill out the army's needs.

2. Women
Women helped the war effort. They were able to help within the military in any non-combat roles, thanks to the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. They also filled thousands of service jobs in factories - without the new women's partition of the workforce, it is unlikely that the U.S. would have had enough civilian power to create both a functioning army and factory force.

3. Minorities
Just as with women, minorities contributed invaluable manpower to the war effort. They filled many necessary places in the military forces, as well as filling important factory jobs. Thanks to anti-segregation legislations, African-Americas, Native-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and even Japanese-Americans were able to join the armed forces.

4. Manufacturers

Many manufacturers shifted the purpose of their factories to those that aided the military. Factories that had formerly filled soft-drink bottles now filled shells with explosives, and former mechanical pencil factories now made bomb parts. Thanks to these changes, military supplies were produced at much faster rates.

5. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)
The OSRD made several strides in the scientific aspects of the war effort. Radar and sonar technologies were improved; DDT was developed to fight off insects; penicillin became more widely used. Most famously, though, the OSRD began racing against Germany to develop the first atomic bomb.

6 Entertainment industry

The entertainment industry rapidly began producing propaganda films to incite patriotism in Americans. These films focused either on portraying the Axis powers in a negative light, or on glorifying the war and the duty of soldiers. These films were quite popular.

7. Office of Price Administration (OPA)

The OPA fought off inflation that was sure to occur during wartime. The OPA froze rents, wages, and prices, and set up rations on staple items like shoes, meat, and vegetables. Thanks to the OPA, inflation during WWII did not rise above 30%.

8. War Production Board (WPB)

The WPB, similar to the OPA, rationed items for the war effort. Unlike the OPA, though, the WPB rationed items such as rubber, heating oil, metals, and plastics. These items could be used to build military technology.

9. Rationing

Rationing, as mentioned above, was a huge effort during WWII. Not only did it let Americans feel like they had a hand in the war effort, it really did support the troops - rationing meant that there was extra food, leather, rubber, metal, etc. that could go to troops overseas. Rationing prevented consumer waste.

Japan and U.S. Relations in 1941

Japan and U.S. Relations in 1941

Document A

-Japan hoped that by advancing into the South, they could help Germany and Italy take England (a U.S. ally)

-Japan thought it likely that they could defeat China and the USSR (both of whom were trading with the U.S.)

-By attacking the South, Japan would be able to cut off supplies to America

-Japan thought that by defeating England, America would be more likely to give in to Japan's demands

Document B

-FDR paid little attention to Japan
-Japan was being treated like a small, bratty, weak child

-Japan was dissatisfied with not being taken seriously

-Tojo was running circles around the U.S.

-FDR thought he had a handle on the Pacific situation, but in reality, the situation was out of his control

-The U.S. had turned their backs to Japan, enabling Tojo to sneak up on them

Document C

-Japan saw the U.S. proposal (for peace in the Pacific) as unfair and embarassing

-They thought the U.S. had reached their decision unexpectedly

-Japan was completely unwilling to accept any of America's suggestions for negotiation

-They were ready to end the negotiations, but did not want America to know this

- Japan was under the impression that they had already suffered enough for the "sake of peace in the Pacific"
- They thought that the U.S. had been inflexible in negotiations

Document D
- Japan saw the upcoming attack as being either their downfall of the beginning of an era of glory

-Tojo acted in order to please the Emperor

-There was a certain amount of fear of retribution from the Emperor driving each of Japan's attacks

-Japan's goals were to "bring the Government and the military ever closer" and "repay" their "obligations" to the Emperor

-Japan planned to make an "all-out effort" against the Allies

Document E

- The U.S. thought that it had been in a state of peace with Japan up until the attack

-The U.S. had still been negotiating with Japan when the attack was launched

-They had, in fact, been looking towards a peaceful solution for the Pacific

-Japan sent the U.S. a response an hour after the attack on Oahu occurred

-Said response was perfectly peaceful and contained no hints at war

-Due to logistics, Japan's attacked must have been planned "days or even weeks ago"

-Japan had deliberately been deceiving the U.S.

-The U.S. declared war on Japan

America Moves Toward War

1. What did the 1939 Neutrality Act allow?
The Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed warring nations to buy U.S. goods, as long as they paid for them in cash and came to the U.S. to pick the goods up themselves. This was referred to as the "cash and carry" policy.

2. Who were the Axis powers?
The Axis poweres were Germany, Italy, and Japan.

3. What did the Lend-Lease Act do?
The Lend-Lease Act allowed America to lend and lease arms or other wartime supplies to any country whose "defense was vital to the United States".

4. What pledges were contained in the Atlantic Charter?
In the Atlantic Charter, both Great Britain and the U.S. pledged several things: freedom of the seas, disarmament, collective security, economic cooperation, and self-determination.

5. Who were the Allies?
The allies were Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

6. What did the attack at Pearl Harbor do to the U.S. Pacific fleet?
The attacked had sunk or damaged 21 ships, 8 of which were battleships. This meant that the attack at pearl Harbor wiped out nearly the entire U.S. Pacific fleet.

7. Why did Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.?
On December 8, 1941, Roosevelt declared war on Japan. The other two Axis powers held good to their promise and swiftly declared war on the U.S. in retaliation.